I often interact with people who are moving to the island to live. We read a lot of commentaries about those who stay on and those who leave. The most common and perhaps least mentioned "thing" is culture shock. It affects pretty much everybody who enters a new culture.It masks as "my internet is down"; "the steak is tough"; "I waited all day and they didn't come". I'll bet you a shiny dollar that every person who is significantly upset by these things here has experienced the same things "at home" and reacted differently (less negatively) at the time. So what's the difference ...? The difference is that in a new culture there is a lot of uncertainly for you - you don't have the same subtle social clues as to what to expect. When things don't happen as you want or expect, your entire sense of well-being is upset. It's not the internet - that's a trigger, but not a cause.Experts say that when an emotion overwhelms you there are things you can do to feel better fast ........ one of those things is to label it. Your new label - culture shock. Know it, relax with it, laugh at it, breathe with it and know that if you do, you will eventually find your anxiety (and the anger that comes along with it) abating. It's ok. It's going to happen to some degree - guaranteed. It won't kill you and it will make you stronger.Oh ...... and it helps a lot if you just relax a little and observe things around you (for sure if you struggle against the flow you will end up exhausted and the steak will still be tough). If you spend some time allowing things to be as they are, sooner than later this will be your new normal. Really.

The comments above are mostly directed to people from other countries moving here, but I know people from Belize City who say they had significant adjustments to make coming to San Pedro. One fellow said "I had to put on the breaks HARD." PS - he's very happy now and isn't considering a move bak to the mainland.